Woman with Calla Lilies

I was getting upset that the calla lilies were starting to die as the last are still opening.


So I thought the best was to have Yeney get in there and I'd take some pictures.



I haven't finished working with the pics, but wanted to show the idea of what's I'm working on.

Thanks for visiting.

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

I was getting upset that the calla lilies were starting to die as the last are still opening.


So I thought the best was to have Yeney get in there and I'd take some pictures.

Asher Kelman: Woman with Calla Lilies
​

I haven't finished working with the pics, but wanted to show the idea of what's I'm working on.

Thanks for visiting.

Asher

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I'dreally like to hear your ideas behind this, Asher, so I can put it into context and enjoy it more. I know it won't be anything shallow and meaningless so I won't say anything. I already suffer from foot-in-mouth disease.
All I can say is the more I look the more I see.

Tom dinning said:

I'dreally like to hear your ideas behind this, Asher, so I can put it into context and enjoy it more. I know it won't be anything shallow and meaningless so I won't say anything. I already suffer from foot-in-mouth disease.
All I can say is the more I look the more I see.

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Thanks for dropping by Tom! I have been fascinated by calla lilies for some time and replanted these to see if they would do better in new soil. Well they have flourished, but there's not enough at any one time to harvest for a studio shot, so I felt we should grab them before they were gone altogether. So I asked Yeney who I'm shooting for a tableaux separately, if she could rescue my flowers from oblivion. She kindly came over and hugged them for me.

I plan more. This is just to give a sense of the feeling of the pictures I'm making. It's done in available light and there's a lot of shadow to deal with in the corner of my garden!

Next time I might use lights. Since I had not planned this, just felt it was needed, I have placed it in a category of Riskit! where I'm experimenting with what's available to me for a short while and I must take nature as it is, not as I might want it to be. Adding the woman, helps make up for the lost flowers I did not manage to photograph as I made the mistake waiting for the flowers to open together!

Asher

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I'm still working with the pics! Now with a softer and more restrained representation.




Asher

Nice work Asher
I like the last one very much.
The blur effect or whatever it is, just suits fine here. Are you going to apply the same treatment to the other images ?
Don't you think that not seing her face is more captivating than the contrary ?

Asher, what a wonderful photograph. I definitely prefer the first. I especially enjoy the textures and colors -- particularly the shawl and hair. And I like that her face is not showing, which adds some mystery. The burn-in (I think) above her adds depth and mystery also, but could use some refinement, I think. All in all it's quite a striking piece.

John

Antonio Correia said:

Nice work Asher
I like the last one very much.
The blur effect or whatever it is, just suits fine here. Are you going to apply the same treatment to the other images ?
Don't you think that not seing her face is more captivating than the contrary ?

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Antonio,

I appreciate you stopping by. I so much value you Latin background for these images. After I completed them, my wife showed my Diego Rivera pics, so maybe there's a subconscious link in the recesses of my mind. I'm looking at the blurred effect as we photograph to sharply. I need to open up the aperture of the camera, but this was the 24-105 mm L IS and I should be using a fast prime I think. With 8x10 film, , if I get to that while the Calla Lily species still lives, I can use a soft focus lens.

Hiding her head is something I tried to emphasize her bond to the flowers and greenery.

Asher

John Wolf said:

Asher, what a wonderful photograph. I definitely prefer the first. I especially enjoy the textures and colors -- particularly the shawl and hair. And I like that her face is not showing, which adds some mystery. The burn-in (I think) above her adds depth and mystery also, but could use some refinement, I think. All in all it's quite a striking piece.

John

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John,

The shawl is the little "throw" blanket we use on chilly evenings when watch TV.

The idea was for a nice model, but she's away for a week. I was worried that the flowers were all rapidly going from the last buds to glorious blooms and then withering before my eyes. It's like live draining from beauty, a roller coaster of beauty and death.

Thanks for you comments.

Asher

Hi Asher,


Woman with Calla Lilies 1 is a gorgeous image but I don't see enough flowers to justify such a dramatic scene with the woman embracing the plant... I must admit that I'm inevitably influenced by Diego Rivera's famous painting which, by the way, implied the submissive character of an anonymous person. In contrast, your Woman with Calla Lilies 2 presents the face of a woman as the main subject in the composition and Woman with Calla Lilies 3 even suggest a subtle sensuality, so natural for today's women. Both photos are fascinating, full of inspired creativity.

Regards,

Ruben

Ruben Alfu said:

Hi Asher,


Woman with Calla Lilies 1 is a gorgeous image but I don't see enough flowers to justify such a dramatic scene with the woman embracing the plant... I must admit that I'm inevitably influenced by Diego Rivera's famous painting which, by the way, implied the submissive character of an anonymous person. In contrast, your Woman with Calla Lilies 2 presents the face of a woman as the main subject in the composition and Woman with Calla Lilies 3 even suggest a subtle sensuality, so natural for today's women. Both photos are fascinating, full of inspired creativity.

Regards,

Ruben

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Ruben,

Sunsets, a sailors first kiss when he/she lands ashore, children feeding pigeons are all very hard pictures to ruin but harder to make your own mark with. Calla lilies with a woman is even harder because of the brilliance of Diego Rivera's abundance of flowers that are so iconic. I had no intention on going anywhere near the subject, like this. Rather I was going to harvest the calla lilies to replace the "Yoko Ono" figure in my series of homage to Annie Leibovitz. I didn't like that Rachel thought one of my pictures, (the third) had a sense of being posit-coital, LOL, so I want only one figure, if I am going to work with a nude.

The thought of harvesting all my calla lilies troubled me so I felt we should have a picture of the model in the growth, holding the plants before they were taken captive and sacrificed. So with that in mind, I have been checking them each day and finally called Yeney to stand in for Marcia, so I could get some pictures, in case they all died before she arrives back in town!

So the resemblance to Diego Rivera is purely accidental.

Still, to end up with a picture I like and then other folk enjoy too is a wonderful joy!

Thanks for your visit and kind words.

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Rather I was going to harvest the calla lilies to replace the "Yoko Ono" figure in my series of homage to Annie Leibovitz.

Asher

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I had missed those Asher, great photos, enlightening thread!

Ruben

I'llshow my ignorance and tell you I've not heard of Rivera and his Lillie's, so I can't view these I that context.
It seems by your opening comments, Asher, you have jumped on any bus just to see where it will take you. That could be an interesting ride. The Lillie's, woman and blanket come together quite nicely and there's a coherence of ideas formulating in #1. As the observer I find myself loosing that clarity with the others, especially when the post processing starts to get a bit heavy handed with blur and burn.
You're a brave man Asher, when you come out with a statement like 'the idea was for a nice model' but Yeney had to do. Also, the next time Rachel suggests anything you do is 'post-coital' ask her to elaborate. I must be missing something - or too old.
And why a nude? Is that to give it the 'arty farty' touch? You are on a good thing with the first shot. Don't overdo the brush strokes. Work on the intent (if you have so far formulated one). Beauty isn't everything. Sometimes it clouds the story line or fogs the issues.

Also, when I first saw this the skin tones were blue. Was that me or you? If it was you, I think it added to the fantasy. If it was me, I need to adjust the monitor.

Tom dinning said:

I'llshow my ignorance and tell you I've not heard of Rivera and his Lillie's, so I can't view these I that context.

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Well Tom,

Rivera was a most creative and influential Mexican artist of the 20th Century and not only was a painter but one with social commentary. He also made a number of images of peasants or girl friends with bunches of calla lilies. See his work here.

Tom dinning said:

It seems by your opening comments, Asher, you have jumped on any bus just to see where it will take you. That could be an interesting ride. The Lillie's, woman and blanket come together quite nicely and there's a coherence of ideas formulating in #1.

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Thanks for that.

Tom dinning said:

As the observer I find myself loosing that clarity with the others,

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Exactly, Tom, the lens is too sharp all the way to the edges. I wanted to experiment with the gesture of her right hand in the softened version by blending with a severely blurred version. Repeating on 4x5 or 8x10, with film, I have a lens which can deliver this sort of effect without any post processing.

Tom dinning said:

You're a brave man Asher, when you come out with a statement like 'the idea was for a nice model' but Yeney had to do.

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Tom,

Yeney enjoys the creativity of the shoot and gets t pictures which she loves! For me, it's valuable in working out a challenging set up with someone, (who is herself an accomplished photographer), before taking on a model who has to drive an hour or more each way for a shoot. When she starts, I want to have worked out all the lighting and conceptional issues.

Tom dinning said:

And why a nude?

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Simply because the figure on the right in Annie Leibovitz' picture, John Lennon, was nude in the fetal position. So that's my starting point

Thanks very much for challenging me. I appreciate that very much. in this section, we have to be honest or it's pointless.

Asher

As to the color tempo of the whites, Tom, yes, you're observant and correct! Light appears tinted towards blue! I do not change color temp in processing on my laptop. I do that only later on my profiled Eizo monitor, when preparing particular files for printing. The color temp is just is according to the time of day and the presence of clouds etc! As long as it's a white that I find pleasant, it can stay the way it is.

Visit the new thread on photographs influenced by other artist's work here.

Asher